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Heroin

Today’s Heroin Epidemic

Heroin use has increased sharply across the United States among men and women, most age groups, and all income levels. Some of the greatest increases occurred in demographic groups with historically low rates of heroin use: women, the privately insured, and people with higher incomes.

About Heroin

How is heroin harmful?

A heroin overdose can cause slow and shallow breathing, coma, and death.

People often use heroin along with other drugs or alcohol. This practice is especially dangerous because it increases the risk of overdose.1

Heroin is typically injected but is also smoked and snorted. When people inject heroin, they are at risk of serious, long-term viral infections such as HIV, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B, as well as bacterial infections of the skin, bloodstream, and heart.2

The Problem

How big is the problem of heroin overdoses?

Not only are people using heroin, they are also abusing multiple other substances, especially cocaine and prescription opioids. Nearly all people who use heroin also use at least 1 other drug.3

As heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths. Between 2010 and 2016, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths increased by a factor of 5 – more than 15,469 people died in 2016.4

Risk Factors

Who is most at risk of heroin addiction?

People who are addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers

People who are addicted to cocaine

People without insurance or enrolled in Medicaid

Non-Hispanic whites

Males

People who are addicted to marijuana and alcohol

People living in a large metropolitan area

18 to 25 year olds1

Overdose Prevention

What can be done?

Reduce prescription opioid abuse

Prevent people from starting heroin by reducing prescription opioid abuse

Improve opioid prescribing practices and help identify individuals at high risk early.1

Among people presenting for treatment for addiction to opioids, and who initiated use of an opioid in 2015, about two out of three started with prescription opioids.6

Ensure access to prevention services

Ensure that people have access to integrated prevention services, including access to sterile injection equipment from a reliable source, as allowed by local policy.